Interviewed by Rémi Reverchon on beIN SPORTS ANTENS,, Vincent Collet returned to his role in the Kenny Atkinson staff with riders. Not officially assistant, and therefore not authorized to allow himself on the team of the team, or even behind, the former coach of the Blues is thus a simple “Consultant”.
A consultant that Kenny Atkinson wanted in his staff, but who did not have the green light from the management of the franchise to take the place of a technician already chosen by the leaders.
“Different ideas”
“It is still an organization very different from that of our clubs, with a very large number of assistants. There, in this case, there were a certain number which remained from the previous team. Kenny still took some of his men, with whom he had worked in Brooklyn (notably Jordan Ott and Trevor Hendry) And who are, when I look at the operation, its main assistants ” explains Vincent Collet. “Even if it is not the case in the hierarchy and the organization which are announced. They are his trusted men anyway. It is the work of the coach in the franchises, there is the team, the players but it is also necessary to manage a staff which is very, very wide and which has nothing to do with what can be in our clubs. »»
After each game of the regular season and playoffs, the former coach of the Blues thus sends a debriefing to Kenny Atkinson, “To give it ideas” By remaining concise.
“What Kenny wanted, in fact, is to have ideas different from those that his American assistants can bring to him. He thinks that the European coach has a different vision of the American coach. And that's what he did with the Cavs, he still took a lot of European ideas. For a mixture “ he continues.
Vincent Collet is currently on site, for the whole first round and the start of the (probable) conference semi-final. Then, he will have to return to France and follow the rest of the playoffs, at least to the finals, in France. Enough to dive into the heart of the ultra -pointed environment of the big league.
“It is already a very rewarding experience for me because it allows you to see all the work that there can be behind. In terms of staff coaching, it's quite impressive. Because of this very wide staff in particular. On the analysis of matches, the use of data. We have in the staff a “data scientist”, someone else who is responsible for the “load”, training and matches. Everything is analyzed, and not with “Sports Test” (connected objects worn by basketball players) As in France, which is already very good, but there, is done by cameras. On each match or training sequence, we have the number of accelerations and decelerations, as we can have in football. And there is therefore an analyst who is responsible for the “load” and which can give, following training, the energy expenditure of each player and to control all of this. »»
Always preference to the Euroleague
The former technician of Le Mans, ASVEL, Strasbourg and Dies 92 explains that there are many NBA training sessions but that they are different, less focused on the “scrimmages”, namely real oppositions, but rather on specific exercises, precisely to control the “load” of the players.
“These are small exercises that are targeted on what to work, what the team must improve or consolidate, always so as not to go beyond what is authorized in terms of load. Upstream, training is quantified, in terms of volume, on what players can or should not do. »»
Vincent Collet brings him a vision “More global” as he notes that American assistants are very “Analytics”while he has the reputation of being on a French and European scale.
With an extremely wide staff, the tasks of coaches and NBA assistants therefore seem to be much more compartmentalized than in Europe, even if the former coach of the Blues recognizes that it is perhaps the difference in the number of technicians present who plays. By in fact segmenting everyone's work.
As for his future in the big league, Vincent Collet does not project himself, hoping to continue the adventure … even if his preference would still be to take over a Euroleague team.
